Antakya

On Tuesday we went with a group of college students that are here for a few weeks to Antakya,(previously known as Antioch.) There were 22 of us in all and we obviously stuck out more than a little, but Antakya is more touristy than Adana so you don't get quite as many funny looks. The most interesting and funny thing is that we had an agenda all planned out, but we were meeting up with a husband and wife who had some connections with one of the students with us. And as is common in Turkey, they took it upon themselves to be our tour guides for the day and our plans were thrown out the window, which isn't necessarily that bad as they have all the insider info on all the good spots. First we got to see St. Peter's Church where Christians were first called Christians. And while we were there we got to do a little mountain climbing as the church is built into the side of a mountain so there is lots of exploring opportunities. From there we went to a huge (wedding reception type) restaurant. It probably seated 1000 people and we were the only ones there, but that didn't stop us from enjoying the incredible food that they continued to set in front of our faces. From there we checked out some waterfalls that ran by the restaurant and then our tour guides took us to the museum, as well as the Catholic and Orthodox churches. They were members of the Orthodox church so they laid lots of good historical info on us. We had a great time with them and they were wonderful guides and hosts. From there we stopped at Liverburger and picked up "the world's best döner" (chicken or meat in a pita wrap) for dinner and headed back home. I think a good time was had by all.